To Outshine The Sun
by Demon Flame
Summary: Naruto has must find her and ask her before he leaves on his mission.


"Naruto," Captain Yamato called. "Where are you going, we have a mission?"

Naruto stopped his running and looked behind him. "I'll meet you at the Main Gate, there's something I need to do before we leave." He said, and then leaving no room for argument, tore off into the massive construction zone that was the Konoha.

Despite what Grandma Tsunade and the others thought, Naruto knew that the mission he was being sent on was a fake. Why else would the Hokage spare four Jounin and himself just to go pick herbs on some far away island. No, he knew the entire purpose of this mission was just to keep him out of the way while they prepared for war. He didn't really mind, the old Toad Sage made some prophecy about him on an island or something like that anyway.

At times like this he really wished he could track someone by scent like Kiba.

The village was alive with movement as everyone was so busy rebuilding, but that didn't stop them from taking a moment to greet the Hero of the Leaf as people had started to call him.

"Naruto!"

"Looking good Naruto!"

"Train hard Naruto!"

"We're all rooting for you!"

He gave a smile and a wave to those he passed. Sure a few years ago the snubbed him and looked down on him, but he didn't care he had proven himself to them and now they saw past the demon he contained. And really that's what he had wanted the most for all of those years.

He gave one last wave as he rounded a corner of a newly constructed street and began his search again.

Naruto had looked just about all over and was becoming frustrated. Finally he made his way to the tree where he, Kiba, Choji and a few other Academy boys had raced to. He remembered that he had often seen her training there when he had been training to improve his speed. And sure enough there she was, her face set in concentration as she hit the tree before her repeatedly with chakra enforced palms.

"Hinata!" He called and began running up the hill to her.

Startled at hearing her name she spun around with her eyes wide. "N-Naruto." She said nervously and immediately began fiddling with her fingers.

Naruto finally got to the top of the hill and stood in front of her. He couldn't stop the smile on his face spreading till it damn near out shown the sun. This was the first chance he had had to speak with her since she had tried to fight Pain off. He had been so busy with rebuilding the village and tracking down the Raikage that he just hadn't had time for much of anything else. He had seen her though, moving throughout the village, helping anyone she could, making everyone around her as comfortable as possible.

She kept glancing around her as though she were a trapped animal looking for a way out. There was a handful of times he had tried to approach her but she always seemed to disappear when he got too close, like she was avoiding him. Well, not this time, this was his last chance and she wasn't going anywhere.

"Did you mean it?" He asked, not noticing that he was holding his breath.

If at all possible her eyes grew even wider and her face began to grow red. Naruto now recognized the redness for what it was a blush, not a sign of sickness. She made to take a step back and Naruto suddenly had the horrible thought that she might try to run away. So doing the only thing he could come up with he grabbed both shoulders in his hands to keep her in place.

"Did you mean what you said?" he asked again.

She looked extremely uncomfortable now but he had to know.

"Y-yes." She all but whispered and lowered her head to stare at her toes.

Naruto's smile returned full force and he pulled Hinata into a bone crushing hug. She became stiff and gave a startled squeak but didn't pull away. That was exactly the answer Naruto had wanted to hear. Sure the villagers and shinobi showed how much they appreciated him now that he had proven himself and he knew his other friends all liked him and would gladly watch his back in battle just as he would for them.

But Hinata had loved him. When people kicked dirt and spat on him, she had hid in the shadows crying from the pain they inflicted on him, whether emotional or physical. When people told him he was a failure she had secretly stood behind him knowing that he would prove them all wrong. She believed in him without a shadow of a doubt and trained hard just so that she could prove herself to him.

Over the past few weeks it had been tearing him up inside that he had never known. She had always been kind to him even if it was from afar. The little things she said that had seemed weird and unexpected at the time now all made sense.

Naruto pulled back and looked her dead on, half making sure that she hadn't fainted and half making sure that she would hear every word he said. "Thank you and please forgive me for being too stupid to notice." He said and she blinked a few times before deciding that she wasn't seeing thing and then nodded.

"I'm about to leave for a mission." He said, getting a little nervous. "I know I've kept you waiting long enough, but do you think you could wait for me just a little longer?"

The only emotion on her face was still surprise, but she nodded mutely.

Naruto leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back Hinata." He said and this time his smile did outshine the sun. He turned around and fighting the urge to keep looking back he ran down the hill and back to meet his team for the fake mission. There was nothing that could take his happiness away from him now.

XxX

Kiba and Shino helped a very pregnant Kurenai-sensei up the opposite side of the hill to where they were all supposed to meet with Hinata for a picnic. When they finally reached the top they had released Kurenai and saw that Hinata was facing away from them, stock still.

"Hinata?" Kiba called as he spotted the picnic basket at the base of the tree Hinata usually trained at.

When he did get a response he walked over to her followed by Shino. "Hinata?" Shino tried, but nothing doing.

It was then that Kiba noticed that she was staring on a fixed point and that her face was becoming slowly redder. He turned his head to see what she was staring at but saw nothing. He waved a hand in front of her face but she didn't even blink.

"You know she only ever gets this red when Naruto's around." He said offhandedly.

"She's going to faint." Shino said in such a monotone voice that Kiba almost ignored him.

"Hm?"

And it was at that moment that Hinata's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed on the spot.

"Hinata!"

A/N

Just a little one shot no more updates and no sequels. Hope you enjoyed please review.


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